N.J. group works to restore historical Swayze Cemetery in Warren County

Sarah Rice/For The Star-LedgerChristine Rusin, left, Robert May, center, and Peter Thomas, right, formed The Friends of Swayze, Inc. to save and restore the historic Swayze Cemetery in Hope. The one-acre cemetery has graves dating back to the 1770's, including two Revolutionary War soldiers and one Civil War soldier.
HOPE — If not for the sheep munching on the grass during much of the year, tombstones in the neglected cemetery would be hidden under weeds.

Even with the woolly lawnmowers clearing paths to the final resting places of nearly 200 people, Swayze Cemetery in Warren County has largely remained invisible and forgotten.

Corners of the slate headstones are broken off, fallen to wind, rain and lack of care. Slabs of the 200-foot-long limestone wall built to protect the cemetery have crumbled to chunks of rubble.

Baffled preservationists say the cemetery is an important part of the history of Hope Township, a hamlet of 2,000 people in Warren County, but will be lost forever if nothing is done to preserve it.

Trying to raise money through a nonprofit agency created last month, the founding trustees of The Friends of Swayze Inc. are determined to repair, rebuild and restore the one-acre cemetery where early residents, some soldiers of the American Revolution and Civil War — and even ancestors of late actor Patrick Swayze — are buried, according to historians and ancestry.com.

"The history of the town is dead and in the ground. Someone has to speak for them," said Peter Thomas, a founding member of the group along with longtime Hope residents Robert May, Christine L. Rusin and Norman Beatty, president of First Hope Bank.

The group’s goal is to relate the Swayze family connection to the history of Hope and its role in the community, aside from being large landowners. The family owned half of Hope, a quiet Moravian settlement that’s now comprised historic stone buildings and dotted with antique shops.

"There’s a whole element of history no one has uncovered yet," Rusin said. "Each one of the people buried there deserves to have their story told."

The group’s fundraising campaign will be named "Calling all Angels." The kickoff is scheduled for April 16, with a ceremony at the cemetery.

The owner of the cemetery along County Route 519 is unknown, and it remains unclear why a cemetery that started as a private family plot in the 1700s subsequently welcomed outsiders.

It has gone through at least four different names. Originally named the Swayze Family Burying Ground, the plot was tied to about 800 acres originally owned by brothers Israel and Barnabas Swayze — the great-great-great-great-great uncles of Patrick Swayze — during the 1700s.

They’re also related to John Cameron Swayze, the late news commentator and Timex pitchman, said May, who owns the original farmstead purchased by Israel Swayze in 1743.

"The Swayze land is sacred ground, and it needs to be preserved," May said.

In 1941, the National Park Service conducted a historic sites survey at the cemetery, he said. Since then, many names on deteriorating headstones have been erased. But the group intends to identify, stabilize and preserve grave markers and monuments.

The group will document the stages of restoration with photographs and note-taking, and intends to create a public archive.

"It’s not enough just to talk about history," Rusin said. "You have to take action."

For more information, or to donate, visit www.friendsofswayze.org or e-mail info@friendsofswayze.org, or write to P.O. Box 101, Hope, NJ 07844.